


5 Minute Shower

by silverlysilence



Series: Times of Change [2]
Category: Naruto, Speed Racer (2008)
Genre: Challenge Response, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Genderbending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 02:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3960772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverlysilence/pseuds/silverlysilence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Speed just wanted to go home and sleep the rest of the month away.  Instead he got wine down the front of his shirt and needed a shower.  Even that didn't go how he planned, could this day get any worse?</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 Minute Shower

The day had been exhausting, the race had been draining, and the after party had been hell. He had just wanted to go home, down a couple of pain killers he hadn’t allowed himself to take before the race, and crawl under the covers of his bed until next month. However, Trixie had other ideas. Even before the race, she had donned on a pink and white skin tight satin dress with matching hot pink six inch stilettos and had gotten her dark brown hair cut at some up and coming salon – not that he could tell the difference, it looked like the same bob cut she always had – to wear into the winner’s circle. But, when that didn’t happen, she had prodded at him to go to the after party. She didn’t want all her hard work and effort getting dolled up for him to go to waste; or so she said as hazel eyes surrounded but heavy pink eyeshadow batted at him flirtatiously as she tried to convince him to stay. Pops, hearing Trixie’s pleas, had literally pushed Speed towards the ballroom entrance with a wink, telling him to go have fun. He had tried to protest, grasping at any and every excuse not to go; yet, nothing worked. In the end, Trixie had gotten her way and they were at the after party.

Trixie was having a great time, flaunting the fact that she was Speed Racer’s girlfriend and hissing at any of the other woman who would try to get close. He, on the other hand, watched enviously as other racers left. Some of them with their dates and others left alone. The few racer who had remained and hadn’t been scared away by Trixie’s behavior had stopped by to talk with him, while two of them had. The others had taunted him about placing third at such an easy track, but he ignored them. The teenager was too tired to fight back verbally, let alone physically. He was even more exhausted, when countless businessmen had come out of the woodworks with offers to drive for their teams, which he not so politely declined after the third attempt.

Finally, after what seemed like days, he had the perfect excuse to leave when one of the more drunk patrons spilled red wine down his shirt. Trixie had made a big scene out of it, all but yelling at the guy who accidently spilled the wine and embarrassed both the drunk and Speed. Still, the Grand Prix Champion had used the now stained white shirt as a justifiable reason to head down to the locker-room to clean up and change clothing.

Speed didn’t bother to turn on the lights when he reached the locker-room, heading straight for his locker and punching in Rex’s birthdate before his eyes could fully adjust to the dark. The door swung open on its own accord, not that the teenager took noticed since he was used to the high-tech amenities provided by the WRL. Shrugging off his white leather racing jacket, Speed thanked whoever was listing that the wine had completely missed the article of clothing. The same couldn’t be said for his under shirt, which was tossed into the trash while his jacket was hung over the locker door.

Pulling out his towel and the extra black t-shirt he kept in his to go bag, the young teenager set the article of clothing down on the bench along with the rest of the clothes he was currently wearing. Speed then wrapped his towel around his waist and headed to the communal showers. The lights there automatically flicker to life, causing him to wince slightly at how bright they were and how bad they made the bruises on his skin appear.

Turning on the water, Speed allowed the water to heat up before hanging his towel on the knob of the shower one over. Stepping into the hot spray, a slight hiss escaped his lips as the water made contact with his aches and pains. He stood there for who knows how long, letting the heat seep into his battered body and relinquishing in the feeling. Soon though, his brain kicked in to second gear and reminded him that Trixie was waiting on him. With a heavy heart, he grabbed the complimentary soup provide by the race track.

He just finished scrubbing his body when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention and Speed tried to turned his head to get a better view. Yet, the movement was inadvisable, as a shooting pain from one of his various injuries made itself known, causing him to drop the soap in order to use both hands to steady himself against the wall.

“You’re an idiot,” came the familiar soft voice from behind him as delicate hands hit three pressure points in quick succession causing the Grand Prix Champion to take a sharp breath as the pain subsided back to a manageable level. A weak groan which was swallowed by the shower’s spray, escaped Speed's lips as he straightened back up on unsteadily feet.

“What the… How the… _When did you get in here_?” the teenager asked, forcefully having to control his voice in order to get his breathing back under control. Although, the last part held some of the annoyance Speed felt towards the woman behind him for once again sneaking up on him unbeknownst to him and she could hear it too, judging by the small bout of giggles only barely auditable above the splashing water.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” the woman tutted, causing Speed to throw a glare over his shoulder at her. Coincidentally enough, it also allowed him to get a good look at her for the first time that night.

He was surprised to see her in what he came to know as her "full gear". Her orange jacket with black colored sleeves colored spread across her shoulders before the extending down the front and around the hemline was zipped up to her collar. Her orange cargo pants were tapered down white bandages and black sandals over the top  were all familiar sights. The short-sleeved red coat with a black flame pattern along the hemline and the weapons holster secured to her right thigh raised no questions. It was the two black hanbō crisscrossed on her back and the white porcelain kitsune mask with red marking pulled over the top of her right blonde pigtail that gave Speed pause.

Blue eyes meet blue eyes and a look of understanding cross his face before he turned back to his shower. He was not about to ask what had caused the tear tracks which ran down the length of her face, staining her delicate features and making the three whisker like scars on both cheeks stand out even more. Namikaze Naruto had a hard, long life long before they had meet, yet even after everything she had done, she still wore her emotions on her sleeve. Well, at least with him.

“You’re not here for an autograph,” the Grand Prix Champion nonchalantly remarked, trying to lighten the mood and cheer up his friend. It was a pathetic attempt and he knew it even as he closed his eyes to prevent himself from grimacing at the horrible joke. If anything, Naruto was the sole person alive to own more autographs of his than even he owned himself and half the time, Speed couldn’t for the life of him figure out how she had gone about getting them. Instead, he ran his fingers through his hair before grabbing the shampoo and lathering up the greasy locks, all the while trying to discreetly ascertain the cause of her distress. “So why are you here?”

“Princess Pedal, you remember her?” Naruto asked as images of that particular week of events flashed behind closes eyes. Yeah, Speed definitely remember her. Trixie had gotten so worked up when he had mentioned the young princess was pretty and had blown up at him. Yet, when she had comment on Racer X or other any other man’s appearance for that matter, he was expected to just be fine with it. So yeah, he definitely remembered Princess Pedal and grunted in affirmative as he currently had his head under the spray of the shower rinsing the shampoo out of his hair.

“Yeah, well, her would-be-assassins remember you too,” the blonde all but growled, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against the wall. Her words invoked a recent memory in his mind, causing Speed to glance over his shoulder and into eyes of icy glaciers.

“So it is you I have to thank for those hired muscle never coming back to finish the job?” the teenager inquired. Blurred memories of three nights ago was pulled to the surface.  Phantom pain from punches and kicks of masked men assaulted him while two others held him in place filled his mind. He had blacked out after one of them knocked the air out of his lungs and the teenager had woken up in his bed the next morning to Spritle and Chim-Chim jumping up and down on his bed. His little brother had aggravated some of his injuries, but he had played it off as him being rudely awaken at six o’clock in the morning.

He was pulled back into the present when he put more pressure than he thought on his left shoulder, not realizing he had started to rub the dark purplish-blue bruise absentmindedly.

“It was,” came Naruto’s dismissive reply, but the smirk which she was currently sporting told the teenager all he need to know. Tomorrow, he would have to look up John Does at nearby hospitals and leave an anonymous tip about a mugging gone wrong as a precaution. He didn’t what his friend to reconsider and have another go at the men with the notion they had gotten off easy the first time. “And the lovely Madam X will be found in her cell, catatonic in about an hour’s time.”

Well, that explained why he had been attacked. He had originally thought it was due to the race. Some fixer or one of the other teams trying to keep him from racing. But knowing now that Madam X was involved made him feel a little bit better that there wasn't someone out there trying to stop him from racing. It had only been an assassin ring trying to keep him from testifying, which was a relief.

“That seems a little extreme,” Speed grimaced. Trying to clear the hazy memories of being beaten from his mind, he stuck his head under the shower head once more and let the soothing effects wash away the nightmarish memories.

An edge, which hadn’t been there before, coated Naruto’s next words. “It was that, or let her kill you, and I couldn’t let that happen.”

Logically, he knew that was the likely outcome of the fight before. That if Naruto hadn’t intervened, he would have been left for dead in that alleyway. He would have been reunited with Rex, but would have left everyone else behind and he wasn’t ready to leave this world just yet. Speed couldn’t leave Naruto like that, not after she had lost everyone else and he was the first person in a long time she had open herself up to.

“You still have a debt that needs to be paid,” the blonde continued on with a barely noticeable mocking tone, and Speedy was so close to banging his head against the shower tiles, injuries be damned. The teenager should have never played poker with Naruto, she had an uncanny luck. Not to mention, she took her ramen way too seriously and he currently owed her five all she could eat trips to various ramen shops around the world.  He could kiss his winning from tonight's race goodbye.

“Besides,” the Naruto drew out, while the Grand Prix Champion shook the excess water from his hair and wrapped his towel around his waist. The moment Speed had turned to face the blonde, he found himself pressed up against the cold shower tiles with his arms full of soft supple flesh. “You’re much too pretty looking to waste.”

Then Naruto leaned forward, her even breaths tickling his ear. “We got company. Someone’s been listening in to our whole conversation.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Speed hissed quietly, concerned for both of their safety. He tried to catch a glimpse of the intruder but couldn’t see through Naruto’s blonde hair.

The Grand Prix Champion knew Naruto could take care of herself, but she shouldn’t have put herself at risk by staying here if she had sensed someone close by. The blonde should have left the minute she felt someone close by or said something to him before now.   But it also explained away some of her behavior and why the last part of their conversation took a strange turn.

“Don’t worry. I’m fairly sure he’s your self-appointed bodyguard,” Naruto cooed, pressing her lips against his cheek in a chaste kiss. “And be more careful Speed. You really are too pretty to go to waste and I can’t loss you too. Not so close to the anniversary.”

At last, it dawned on Speed the reason for her tearstained face. Today was the anniversary of the day she had lost the last link to her former life. When her friend had passed away in her arms and she couldn’t do anything to stop it. Yet, before he could do anything; to say anything to comfort her, a small smile formed on her lips and then she was gone.

The sudden loss of her supporting weigh had Speed to stumbling forward, his cheeks flaring dark red in shame that he forgot something so important. Oh, he knew she wouldn’t hold it against him, but usually he had spent this day with her every year since learning about it. Yet, this year, he had been so caught up in being the Grand Prix Champion this year that the date had just slipped his mind.

“Okay, that just happened,” Speed said to himself, his voice coming out more hoarse than he would have liked. Standing there for a moment to gather his bearings, the teenager’s mind raced with ideas and different plans to make it up to Naruto. To start off, he would send her a large bouquet of Fire Lilies.

With that in mind, the Racer headed out of the communal showers and into the locker-room. He kept in mind what Naruto had said about someone else being there and let his eyes sweep over the dimly lit room. True to her words, his eyes immediately found the perpetrator. Despite the lack of light in the locker-room, he easily recognized the black leather racing suit with the giant white x spread across the chest. The white x on the black mask with tinted glasses attached effectively hide the owners identity didn’t even register to Speed before his mind already concluded the Harbinger of Boom as his eavesdropper.

Of all the people in the world to catch him in the showers with Naruto, it just had to be Racer X. He could already feel the heat racing into his cheeks and worry worming its way into his heart. He prayed to anyone listening that Racer X knew nothing of Naruto and who she was. They did not need that information getting back to the Chief Inspector, not when Speed shouldn’t have any kind of association with Naruto or know anything about her.

Gulping, Speed tried to act nonchalantly as he made his way over to his locker and acted as if he had just noticed X for the first time while the older racer opened his locker just a few spaced away from where his own locker was left hanging open.

“Oh, hey X,” the teenager said, mentally cursing at himself when his voice didn’t even sound right to his own ears.

“Speed,” the Harbinger of Boom shot back with a nod of his head.  If Speed hadn’t known any better, he would have assumed that X hadn’t heard anything which was said between himself and Naruto. Even when looking for clues, the older racer gave nothing. He was just rummaging around in his locker, seemingly looking for something. “Great race tonight.”

“Yeah, well I should be the one congratulating you on your win,” Speed countered, giving X a small smile. He knew the older racer was just saying that to be polite, but he didn’t need to be patronized. Not tonight.

Instead, he focused on covering up his wounds before X could see them. His black shirt resting on the bench where he had left it was snatched up and thrown on hastily. Yet, his movements weren’t as fluid as he was used to and there were a few hang ups when he pulled the back of the shirt down.

“You still did pretty well yourself,” X remark after a lapse in silence, surprising the teenager.

That didn’t, however, stop the snort form coming out as he pulled on his boxers and discard his wet towel. “Third place.”

“Which is nothing to be ashamed of. Most racers would kill to place third,” the Harbinger of Boom chastised.

Speed went rigid as the man’s words unintentionally brought up the memory of his near death experience from a few nights prior. Lightly massaging the black fabric covering a yellowish bruise, the Grand Prix Champion wonder what X would do knowing that it wasn’t only racers which wanted him dead but numerous other people as well.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Speed rejoined the conversation, shaking his head to pull himself out of the memory as a smile spread across his face when he came to the realization that X was right.

With everything going on and the injuries he received, he shouldn’t hold himself accountable for things which weren’t under his control. He still came in third, which allowed him to qualify for the race Pops wanted to enter him in. He had plans to make things up to Naruto. In the end, everything would work itself.

“Thanks, I needed to hear that," the teenager said hoping X would hear how gratefully he was for the small pep talk. Only a moment latter, a cocky smirk replacing his soft smile on his face. “But just so you know, next time, I’ll beat you.”

“We’ll see about that,” X replied with a matching smirk of his own.

For a second, Speed faltered. The masked racer’s smirk had looked so much like Rex’s own that it made his heart rate double. He knew Racer X couldn’t be his brother, he had seen the man’s face personally and it looked nothing like Rex. Even so, he still felt like there was something between him and X, something more than friendly competition.

Maybe Naruto was right. Maybe he had made an impression on X while they were racing together at the Casa Cristo 500 and for whatever reason, the Harbinger of Boom had made himself his bodyguard.

“See you later, X,” Speed said deciding it was time to get out of there and hauled his duffle bag out of his locker. Grabbing his white leather jacket with his free hand, he closed the locker and headed out.

Before he left, he heard X call out a farewell of his own; “See you later.”

That simple remark renewed his diminished energy stores and put him in a good mood as he made his way back up to ballroom. Trixie was probably going to chew his ear off for taking so long, but he really couldn’t care at the moment. Besides, he had other things to take care of which reminded him to pull out his sleek black phone and placed a call.

“Hello? Yes, I would like to place an order for five dozen Fire Lilies.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> The squeal has been completed and now you all know that the manga I picked was Naruto! The genderbending part was my own twist and yes, Naruto has always been female in this story. However, one of my friends has already cried foul with this challenge. The reason being that she says since Speed Racer was based off of a manga series, I should have to pick another movie and incorporate that into this little series. I don't agree, but wanted a second opinion. Should I continue on with the series? Randomly grabbing another movie from my collection to incorporate?


End file.
